


Take-Downs and Hot Chocolate

by lovekernel



Category: Sweet/Vicious (TV)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Injury, Mutual Pining, Originally Posted on Tumblr, but its mostly Jules's crush on O
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 01:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11197959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovekernel/pseuds/lovekernel
Summary: Kennedy tries to find Jules a date, a take-down goes a bit wrong and vigilantes drink hot chocolate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally published on my tumblr. It was very long and chunky so I've split it into two chapters (also i started writing a third chapter but who knows if I'll ever finish it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ ). Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think!

Jules jumped when a phone suddenly appeared in front of her face.

“What do you think of this guy?”

Luckily, Jules had suppressed the usual response of attack when an object flew at her head.

"Kennedy, why?” Jules swatted the phone away.

They were sitting next to each other, cross-legged on a couch in the Zeta house. Jules was waiting for Ophelia to arrive to go to a take-down, which she told Kennedy was a study session. Up until then, Jules had been highlighting in a textbook while Kennedy kept her company, silently scrolling through her phone. 

“Sorry, I just want your opinion of him. What do you think?” said Kennedy, waving the phone at Jules.

Jules took the phone from Kennedy to take a closer look. “He’s… generically attractive. And not really your type? Who is he?” Jules held the phone out to Kennedy and looked at her quizzically.

“He’s in my French class, his name’s Sam,” Kennedy didn’t take the phone back, “and I wasn’t asking for me, it was for you!”

“Kennedy, I broke up with Tyler like three weeks ago, I’m not dating again for a while.” Jules tried to be serious but it was difficult not to smile at her best friend’s excited and slightly devious face.

“That’s not what you said last night!” Kennedy rolled her eyes to meet Jules’s as she took her phone back.

“I told you I felt lonely after midnight and under the influence of three glasses of wine.” Jules sighed exasperatedly. “It was a moment of weakness, you weren’t supposed to take it seriously!”

“It was a moment of honesty, Jules, something you are sorely lacking these days.” Kennedy looked down at her phone again. “Give me a minute, I’ll find someone else for you…”

“Kennedy stop!” Jules laughed. “Stop it, okay, I’m off guys right now.”

Kennedy looked up at her, totally serious for a moment. “Okay, okay, no guys. Got it.” Kennedy looked down and continued scrolling. “I think I can find you a great girl,” she said under her breath. 

Jules slammed her book shut. “Kennedy!”

Kennedy looked up again with a grin.

“You’re relentless,” Jules said, shaking her head.

“Sorry, sorry,” said Kennedy, locking her phone and giving Jules her full attention. “I just need a side project right now and finding you a date seems like fun.”

“You know what else is fun?” Jules asked. “Finding yourself a date.” She poked Kennedy’s arm. 

“No, no,” Kennedy replied. “I told you, I’m focusing on my studies right now.” 

“And I can’t do that?” said Jules, tapping a finger against her textbook.

“You study too much, you need balance in your life, Jules.” Kennedy mimed a set of scales with her hands. “School is important… so is your mental health. It will be good for you to find an outlet.”

“A relationship is not an outlet.”

“Really?” Kennedy raised an eyebrow skeptically. “Because Tyler certainly helped you to relieve some stress…” 

“Kennedy!”

Kennedy laughed and leaned back. Jules sighed and opened her textbook again. Neither of them spoke for a few minutes.

“How about Ophelia?” Kennedy said suddenly.

Jules didn’t look up. “What about Ophelia?” 

“What about you dating Ophelia?”

“What?” exclaimed Jules, a little too loudly.

Kennedy looked at her expectantly.

“I… I can’t date Ophelia,” said Jules, lowering the volume.

“Why not? She’s cute, she’s bi and before you say anything about your schoolwork, Jules, may I please remind you that Ophelia is your tutor… oh my god.” Kennedy’s mind was racing a mile a minute. “Jules! You already spend all your time with her-”

“Kennedy! Stop.” Jules had to halt her train of thought before it could go any further. “I’m not going to date Ophelia.”

“What’s stopping you?” Kennedy leaned over and squeezed Jules’s arm. “Oh my god, Jules you guys would be amazing together! I mean you’re practically already dating, just, like… without the intimacy…” 

“No! No, Ophelia’s one of my best friends, I’ve never thought of her like that!” Jules realised she was becoming shrill and turned away from Kennedy for a few seconds to take a deep breath. “Anyway, I told you, I don’t want a relationship and you know Ophelia just broke up with Evan, she’s not dating either.”

Kennedy nodded quickly, staring intently into Jules’s eyes. “That’s a good argument you’ve got there, Jules. Seems almost as if you’ve thought about this before.” 

Jules sighed. “Kennedy…”

She was cut off by the doorbell ringing.

Kennedy leapt up to open the front door before Jules could get to it. Jules stood up so quickly that the textbook that had been on her lap fell to the ground with a loud bang. She stopped to pick it up.

“Ophelia! Speak of the sun…” Jules could hear Kennedy saying.

She dropped the textbook on the couch and skidded over the foyer to the front door.

“…and so it will shine,” Kennedy finished, putting her arm around Jules. Jules glared up at her before focusing on Ophelia in the doorframe, smiling brightly and shaking off the snow in her hair.

“Aw, you guys were talking about me? I thought I could feel my ears burning,” Ophelia said, putting her hands on her hips and twisting slowly back and forth.

“No!” said Jules, quickly shaking her head.

“We were actually,” said Kennedy smoothly. “I was just saying how great it is that you guys have become so close.”

Ophelia’s eyes lit up and she nodded earnestly, looking between Kennedy and Jules.

There was silence for a beat and then Kennedy opened her mouth to speak. “You know-”

“Are you ready to go?” Jules interrupted. She bent down and picked up her backpack from where she left it by the door. “We have so much work to do!” She tugged her coat on and stepped outside, throwing her backpack over her shoulder.

Ophelia looked confused. “Uh, yeah-”

“Great, lets go! Bye Ken!” Jules linked her arm through Ophelia’s and pulled her down off the porch.

“You kids have fun!” Kennedy waved to them. Ophelia looked back to see her wink before she shut the door.

At the end of the driveway Ophelia looked at Jules. She was blinking rapidly, staring up at the moon. She suddenly looked down and dropped Ophelia’s arm as if she had just realised she was holding it.

“Well, that was weird…” said Ophelia.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Jules, waving her hand in dismissal. “Ready to kick the crumbs out of this guy?” 

Ophelia tore her eyes off of Jules to face forward. “Hell yeah. Let’s do this.”

****

Stood in the shadows of a dark alleyway, Jules shuddered. “It’s too cold for this.”

“I knew we should have invested in black coats,” Ophelia whispered back. “Here, we’ll huddle for warmth.” She put her hands on Jules’s hips and began to draw her in when Jules jumped back like she had been shocked.

“Are you okay?” Ophelia asked softly.

“Yeah… yeah,” Jules replied. “I just– you know if anyone saw the vigilantes hugging we’d lose the element of intimidation.”

“We’re hidden right now for a reason, but okay.” Jules was distracted but Ophelia knew better than to push her at a time like this. She squinted slightly, looking outside the alley. “Is that him?”

Jules whipped her head around to check. “Yeah… it is. Are you ready?” 

Ophelia nodded. “Lead the way.” 

Their guy, Andrew Ivers, had his back turned from them. He shouted something out to someone within the second that Jules got him in a headlock. She had acted so fast that neither she nor Ophelia had noticed that he wasn’t alone. Jules quickly put her hand over his mouth, muffling his screams, before dragging him back into the alley.

“Andy?” someone called out in their direction.

Andrew bit Jules’s hand causing her to yell out and let go of his face. He screamed before Ophelia punched him, not knocking him out but surprising him enough to silence him.

“Andy?” a man’s voice shouted.

“Where’d he go?” said a different voice.

Jules pressed Andrew’s face into the snow. “Stay quiet,” she said into his ear, putting her switchblade in his line of sight.

Ophelia kneeled next to Jules. “What do we do? Take them all? We can handle three.” 

Jules thought for a second. “If they find us we’ll have to.”

The sound of crunching footsteps on snow came towards the alley.

“Okay,” said Ophelia, standing up, “can we make it two?” 

Jules nodded. She flipped Andrew over and raised her fist but he apparently got a wave of courage as he pushed Jules away from himself and launched off the ground towards the entrance of the alley. Ophelia grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back in, but not before he reached the light of a street lamp and screamed for help. Ophelia pushed Andrew to the ground, knelt on top of his chest and punched him until he lost consciousness.

Meanwhile, Jules peered around the corner of the wall and saw two huge men pacing around outside, searching for the source of the screams.

“Change of plan,” said Jules, roughly pulling Ophelia off of Andrew. “If we can find a way out of here, let’s just leave.”

“Seriously?” said Ophelia. “After all that planning, we’re just going to go without letting this scumbag know exactly why this happened to him?”

“Hey, you’re the one who knocked him out before we could tell him,” Jules retorted.

“Did it look like I had a choice? He was going to give us away!” Ophelia protested, gesturing down at the motionless body.

Jules shook her head and tried to think. “It’s too risky.” 

“Hey!” said a gruff voice.

Ophelia’s eyes widened and Jules turned around to meet the two men advancing towards them.  
One of them made to hit Jules but she dodged it and kicked him hard in the ankle. He fell to his knees on the ground. Jules kicked him in the side of his head and his body came down onto the packed snow.

The other one went for Ophelia. She darted around, escaping him until he managed to catch her against the wall. Ophelia struggled against him as he held her there with one arm across her chest and punched her hard across the face with his other hand. Ophelia, dazed, went limp in his grasp.

Jules turned and saw Ophelia’s situation. Burning anger made its way into Jules’s chest as she went to tear the guy off of Ophelia and make him regret ever coming near her, but before she could interfere a hand grabbed her ankle and she was pulled down sharply to meet the concrete.

Twisting around, Jules saw Andrew slowly lifting himself to his hands and knees. Jules scrambled to get up but as she rose onto her elbows a boot stamped down on her chest, slamming her back against the ground. The guy she knocked down earlier stood above her, staring down menacingly. Andrew came to join him. Jules tried to get up again but fell back with a kick to the stomach. She yelled out before another blow to the chest knocked the breath out of her.

Ophelia had just kneed the guy holding her in the balls when she heard Jules scream. With the sound Ophelia felt fear pierce her chest. She looked around her guy to see Jules lying on the ground, being kicked over and over again by the other two men.

Ophelia froze for a second and the guy she had been fighting recovered and pushed her back against the wall. Ophelia reacted immediately, pushing him right back and onto the ground, where she slammed his head down against the concrete, knocking him out instantly.   
Ophelia got up quickly to face the men attacking Jules, who had stopped at this point, seeing what Ophelia did to their friend. Andrew backed away from Jules, but the other man stayed where he was, sizing up Ophelia.

Ophelia roared as she tackled him and hit him wherever she could, punching his stomach, kicking his legs, clawing at his face. He screamed and pushed her away from himself, slipping on the ice around them in an effort to get away from her as fast as he could.

Ophelia saw him join Andrew but didn’t stop to watch them leave. She dropped to the ground beside Jules, who was shaking violently, curled up on her side, breathing heavily and unsteadily.  
Ophelia took one of Jules’s clenched fists, too scared that she would hurt her if she touched her anywhere else, and pried it open so that she could squeeze her hand. “Jules,” Ophelia said, leaning over her to study her face. She pulled Jules's mask down. She was pale as milk and her eyes were unfocused as they fluttered open and closed. “Jules, say something please…”

Jules saw a black form join her on the ground. She knew it was Ophelia but couldn’t think coherently enough to say anything while she was distracted by the pain all over her body. Then Jules felt Ophelia holding her hand, it grounded her and when she heard Ophelia’s voice she was able to focus on something other than the pain. “…Say something please…”

“ ’M okay…I’m okay…” Jules managed to get out. Ophelia exhaled. “We have…we have to…get out of here..” Jules started to sit up and Ophelia put an arm around her shoulders to help her.

“Just stay where you are for a second,” Ophelia said once Jules was sitting up with her head bent over her chest, trying to get her breathing under control. Ophelia stood up and found her bag. She took out her clothes and changed fast, keeping an eye on Jules the whole time. Once she was dressed, Ophelia found Jules’s clothes and came to kneel down beside her. Jules was breathing heavily still, but now at a normal pace.

“You really made a mess of him,” said Jules, pointing at the guy on the ground. Ophelia glanced over briefly, just to check he was still out, before she turned her attention back to Jules.

“Leave your pants on, they’re just black, no one will notice. We’ll just change your shirt, okay?” said Ophelia, helping Jules to shrug off her hoodie. Jules nodded, and let Ophelia pull her black t-shirt over her head. Ophelia wanted to check Jules’s body for injuries right there, before she had to stand up, but she could barely see anything in the dim light, and Jules was shivering, so Ophelia just helped her dress.

Once they had gotten Jules’s coat zipped up, Ophelia put an arm around her waist to lift her off the ground into standing. Jules cried out and bit her lip to silence herself.

“What is it?” asked Ophelia worriedly, looking up and down Jules’s body.

“Just…my ankle,” said Jules, looking down and testing her weight on it. She winced. “It’s not that bad, don’t worry.” 

Ophelia pulled Jules’s hand around her shoulders. “Here, lean on me,” she said. “It’s not that far back to my place.”

When they stepped out into the light of a street lamp they could see each other clearly.

“Oh my gosh, O. Your face…” Jules put a hand on Ophelia’s jaw to get a better look. Ophelia’s nose was bleeding and so was her cheek and bottom lip where the skin had split.

“It’s fine,” said Ophelia, examining Jules’s own ashen face. “We’d better get going, in case the cops come.”


	2. Chapter 2

It took them much longer than usual to get home to Ophelia’s apartment, with Jules’s ankle slowing them down. Luckily, they didn’t meet anyone that they knew along the way, or any police. The stairs up to the apartment especially were a struggle, but eventually they reached the door and Ophelia left Jules against the wall while she unlocked it.

Once the door was open, Ophelia put her arm around Jules again and led her in, kicking the door shut behind her. She brought Jules over to the bed and helped her to sit down and take off her coat. Jules screwed her eyes shut as she leaned back against the blankets. Once her head hit the pillow, she relaxed and took some deep breaths.

“Are you okay there?” Ophelia asked.

Jules nodded, opening her eyes to look at Ophelia. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” 

Ophelia sat down at Jules’s feet to unlace her shoes. She pulled off the one on Jules’s uninjured leg and slowly loosened the laces and tongue on the other so that she could gently take it off without hurting Jules. Jules gritted her teeth as Ophelia had to bend her ankle slightly to take off her sock.

“Ah, I’m sorry!” Ophelia said, looking over at Jules as she finished pulling the sock off.

“No, it’s okay,” said Jules with a small smile, “I think it’s just a sprain anyway, so don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, I think you’re probably right,” said Ophelia, comparing Jules’s ankles. “It’s a little swollen though.” She stood up to go to the kitchen. 

Jules listened to Ophelia’s light footsteps getting further away from her, the sound of paper towel being torn off the roll and the metallic sound of a tap being switched on with the splash of water against steel. A minute or two passed and Jules heard the refrigerator opening, the crusty sound of shifting ice crystals, the door sealing closed and Ophelia’s footsteps coming back towards the bed.  
Jules felt Ophelia’s weight dip the bed and she jumped when the ice pack touched her leg.

“Sorry,” said Ophelia. “Should’ve warned you.”  
She rested her hand on Jules’s other leg and felt damp fabric from the melted snow that Jules was lying in earlier.  
“We should get these off,” she said, tugging on the material of Jules’s tracksuit bottoms. 

Jules laughed out loud, thinking of what Kennedy would say if she knew what was happening. She stopped quickly though, laughing hurt.

“What’s so funny?” asked Ophelia.

Jules looked up at Ophelia’s bemused face, now clean of blood and looking much brighter than before.

“Nothing,” said Jules, reaching forward to push her pants down and gasped quietly at the pain that the movement caused.

Ophelia got up to pull Jules’s pants off herself. She smirked and pretended to get choked up. “Not gonna lie to you Jules, I’m a little offended you laughed at the idea of being pantsless on my bed.” 

“Aw, O, you know I didn’t mean it like that.” Jules grinned at her.

Ophelia gently removed Jules’s bottoms from around her ankles, left them on the bed next to her and put Jules’s phone beside her on the bedside table. Ophelia pulled over a blanket to cover her legs and spotted a bruise on Jules’s stomach where her shirt had ridden up.

“While we’re on the subject of undressing, can we take off your shirt so I can check nothing’s broken?”

Jules nodded, starting to sit up. Ophelia put a hand on her shoulder, gently pressing her back down. "Don’t move, I’ll take it off for you.”

Ophelia rolled her eyes at Jules’s snort, lifted the hem of her shirt and pulled it up to her neck and over her arms.

Jules giggled until the shirt was off her face and she saw Ophelia’s sobering expression, looking down at her body.

“That looks bad,” Ophelia said, dropping the shirt to the floor and sitting down beside Jules.

Jules pressed her chin to her chest to take a look at herself.

Big red welts peppered her whole torso, just beginning to turn purple. There was one particularly prominent horseshoe-shaped bruise on Jules’s chest, right above her heart, where she had been kicked against the pavement by the heel of a boot.

“Rats, that’s going to be difficult to cover up.” 

Ophelia didn’t respond. She rubbed her hands on her jeans to warm them up and then hovered them over Jules’s ribs.   
“Let me know if I’m hurting you, okay, Jules?”

“Yeah, ‘course.” Jules glanced over Ophelia’s bent head before she lay back on the pillow.

Ophelia brushed her fingers over Jules’s skin, looking up at her neutral expression before actually pressing against her ribs, searching for anything out of place.

Jules calmed against Ophelia’s touch. Though it hurt to have her pressing on the bruises, she mostly felt relieved by Ophelia’s cool hands on her flushed skin.   
She was sure that nothing was broken, the pain was on the outside of her body, but she knew that Ophelia had to make sure and Jules definitely didn’t mind the opportunity to be this close to her.

The feelings Jules had for Ophelia blurred between those that were platonic and those that were a little more intimate. Whatever their nature, they were intense. It was easy for Jules to forget what that might mean for their relationship when they were constantly busy, beating up rapists, hanging out in Vinylton or staying up late studying over coffee and pizza.

It was moments like this, when everything stopped and Jules had space to think, where those feelings, and thoughts of what they might mean bubbled to the surface and became impossible to ignore. The thought of being with Ophelia more intimately was one thing though. Acting on those emotions was something else entirely. Ophelia might never feel the same way and even just the thought of losing any part of their relationship terrified Jules more than anything else.

She loved Ophelia. Jules knew this for sure. Ophelia had become her rock. Whenever Jules was overwhelmed and it felt like everything had spiralled far out of her control, Ophelia was always there, grounding her. Jules only hoped that she could do the same for her.

Ophelia felt each rib and found nothing out of the ordinary. Her eyes travelled up Jules’s body to rest on her face. Jules had her eyes closed, the corners of her mouth twitching every few seconds.

“Are you in pain?” Ophelia asked her.

Jules’s eyes stayed closed.

“No,” she breathed.

Ophelia nodded and finished checking Jules’s ribs. She slid up the the edge of the bed a little to get closer to Jules’s chest and remove the straps of her sports bra. Her fingers grazed against Jules’s collarbone and suddenly Jules sighed deeply, her breath blowing a strand of Ophelia’s hair.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

Jules’s eyes opened slightly, revealing just half of sparkling blue irises.

“Yeah, I’m sure.” 

She swallowed and her eyes shut once again.

Ophelia felt along Jules’s neck again. Her hand stopped near that heel-shaped bruise and Ophelia just stayed there, feeling Jules’s chest rise and fall steadily with the light thumping of her heart.  
Ophelia realised that she had been staring at Jules’s chest and she swiftly removed her hand to stand up and pull the blanket over the rest of Jules’s body.

Jules’s eyes snapped open when she realised Ophelia had finished, and she wasn’t going to feel her hand on her body again.

“All done?” Jules asked, getting her arms out from under the blanket and sitting up on her elbows, ignoring the ache in her chest.

"Yep!” said Ophelia, already standing at the end of the bed. “Nothing broken.” 

Jules noticed that Ophelia was blushing and as soon as she did she felt her own cheeks warm.

She winced as she sat up against the headboard. Ophelia hurried forwards to help but Jules waved her away. “It’s fine, thanks, O.” 

Ophelia stood awkwardly in front of the bed, pursing her lips and looking around her. "Do you want some hot chocolate?"

"…Hot chocolate?"

"Yeah,” said Ophelia. “Hot chocolate. Milk, cocoa, sugar…”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m familiar with it,” said Jules with a chuckle. “Um, sure, I’d love some. Thanks.”

Ophelia hit her with some finger guns. “Awesome, I’ll go…do that.”   
She turned and headed for the kitchen.

Ophelia disappeared down behind the counter and Jules could hear pots and pans clanging together.  
Ophelia’s head popped up. “Hey, um, so you can’t walk…” she said, standing up with a pot, “…so maybe you should stay here for a few days? So we can avoid any awkward questions…what do you think?” 

Jules nodded, picking at a loose thread on her blanket. “Uh, yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I’ll come up with something to tell Kennedy.”

“Cool, cool,” Ophelia said, pouring milk into the pot from a height. She looked back at Jules and for a moment they just stared at each other. Ophelia’s eyes flickered back down to that bruise.

“Shit, I should get you some clothes.” Ophelia recapped the milk and headed over to her chest of drawers to find a t-shirt and a pair of shorts. She handed them to Jules.

“Thanks.”

“Do you need help?” 

“No, I’ll manage. Nothing broken, remember?” Jules replied, gazing up at her while throwing off her blanket.

“Alright.” 

Ophelia went back to the kitchen. She heard some hisses of pain and flipped around in alarm only to find Jules awkwardly wriggling into the shorts while still sitting down. Jules gave her a thumbs up, so Ophelia went back to the hot chocolate, willing herself not to turn around again.

She stood stirring, until the milk was hot enough to add cocoa. When Ophelia turned to the counter to grab the jar, she caught Jules, now dressed, watching her with a contented smile on her face. Jules opened her mouth as if to say something and then she looked away, leaned back against the headboard and closed her eyes. Ophelia turned back to finish the hot chocolate.

“Jules?” 

Jules opened her eyes to Ophelia passing a mug her way.

“Thank you,” said Jules with a smile, taking the mug from Ophelia. “Marshmallows?”

“Yeah, what of it?” Ophelia shrugged, climbing onto the bed and sitting down beside Jules.

Jules grinned. “It’s really cute.” She put the mug up to her face. “Is that cinnamon?” 

Ophelia nodded, stirring her own mug. 

Jules took a sip. “Oh wow, that’s really good.” 

Ophelia scoffed. “Why do you sound so surprised?”

“Hot chocolate is just not something I’d expect you to be good at.” Jules looked over at Ophelia with her eyebrows raised, taking another sip.

“Yeah, well, I’m full of surprises.”

“Hmm… yeah. It’s part of your charm.”

Ophelia laughed and closed her mouth with a moan. Her jaw was still sore from being punched.

“How’s your face?” Jules asked, her eyebrows creased together. “I never checked.” 

“Oh, its fine, just sore.” Ophelia went back to drinking her hot chocolate.

Jules put her mug down on the bedside table and turned to face Ophelia.  
“Come here, I want to make sure you’re okay.”

Ophelia coughed and leaned away from Jules. “No…it’s…it’s really fine.”

“No, come on. I need to be sure.” Jules put an arm around Ophelia and pulled her closer, sighing through the throb across her body.

Ophelia shrugged out of Jules’s grip. “I’m coming, I’m coming, there’s no need to hurt yourself over it,” she grumbled and shifted herself over to sit in front of Jules with her legs crossed.

Jules put her hands on Ophelia’s shoulders and craned her neck to see around her face. They smiled when their eyes met. Jules felt a nervous flutter in her stomach when she realised how close their faces were.

Bruises had blossomed across Ophelia’s jaw and up her left cheek. The cuts on her cheek and her swollen bottom lip had dried to a crusty crimson. Jules traced a line with her finger: up Ophelia’s jaw, around her cheek and down her nose. Ophelia’s eye twitched and Jules felt that pang in her chest that she always got when someone she loved was hurt. She bit her lip. “Aw, O…” 

Ophelia laughed dismissively. She closed her eyes and stuck the left side of her face out towards Jules. “Kiss it better?” 

Jules laughed too, but she put her palm against Ophelia’s right cheek and leaned forward to press her lips to the left.  
Ophelia’s lips curled up at the corners and, without a second thought, Jules went ahead and kissed those too.

Ophelia’s eyes opened with surprise as Jules leaned back and dropped her hands.

“Sorry,” said Jules, a little stunned herself that she actually did that. “Maybe I got kicked in the head.” She laughed nervously and looked away to the window.

Ophelia smiled, despite being a little disappointed that Jules hadn’t meant to kiss her. Maybe the connection she had felt with Jules earlier wasn’t what she thought it was. But this was okay, at worst things would stay the same between them. God knows that Jules’s friendship was more than enough for Ophelia.

Jules tried to suppress the panic that was rising in her brain. Would this change things between them? Jules felt like she had just ruined what she had been trying so hard to protect.  
Jules looked back at Ophelia, who was staring down at her lap with a small smile. She didn’t seem upset, or even confused. Jules swallowed her fear.

“But I’m pretty sure I wasn’t.” 

Ophelia looked up. “What?” 

“I’m pretty sure that I wasn’t kicked in the head”

Jules pushed herself closer to Ophelia.

“In fact,” Jules put one hand on Ophelia’s waist and with the other she began to reach for her face. “I’m certain.” 

Ophelia’s eyes flickered down to Jules’s lips and Jules took it as a sign that she was doing the right thing. She pressed her hand to the back of Ophelia’s head and slowly brought them closer. Jules tilted her head and their lips connected, finally breaking the tension that had been building up all night. The kiss was soft at first, until Jules pushed her lips harder to Ophelia’s. Jules felt the split in Ophelia’s lip against her own and relented, afraid she might hurt her, but Ophelia made up for the loss of pressure, ignoring the sting. 

Jules began to lean back against the bed, pulling Ophelia down against her. Ophelia put her hand against Jules’s hip and heard her sniff sharply. 

Ophelia broke away from her and looked between Jules’s body and her face. “Shit, did I hurt you?”

Jules shook her head vigorously, eager to get back to what they were doing. “No, no, don’t worry about it!”  
She started to pull on Ophelia again, but Ophelia sat right up.

“Jules, look, this is great, I mean, I’m loving this,” she said, gesturing around them with her hands.

Jules grinned and nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

“But um,” Ophelia continued, “I really don’t want to hurt you and I uh, I think that that’s going to be difficult to avoid in your current condition.”

Jules pursed her lips and nodded. “Yeah…”

Ophelia took one of her hands. “So, can we just take things slow for now?”

Jules smiled down at Ophelia’s hand clasped tightly around hers.

“Yeah. Of course.”

She patted the space next to her. Ophelia stood up on the bed to step over Jules’s legs and kneeled down to flop back onto the pillows.

“Once again, my double life ruins my chances of romance,” Jules said wistfully.

Ophelia laughed, leaned over to kiss Jules again briefly and dropped back into her previous position. Jules shook her head and stretched out her arm.

“No. I need you closer,” she said to Ophelia, slipping her arm under her head.

Ophelia rearranged herself until her and Jules were in a comfortable position with her head nestled in Jules’s arm, Jules’s other hand wrapped up in Ophelia’s and their bodies turned towards each other.  
After a few minutes of lying together in silence, just listening to each other breathe, they both fell asleep.

***

Jules woke up, feeling a weight on her arm. Other than that, her arm was totally numb. Sluggishly, she remembered why and she grinned down at Ophelia’s tousled green head in the crook of her elbow. 

Jules heard her phone buzz on the table next to her and she stretched her other arm over to pick it up, being careful not to move Ophelia.   
She unlocked her phone and found several texts from Kennedy.

“Are you coming home tonight?”  
“What am I saying? Of course you’re not ;)”  
“But for real text me back so I know you’re not dead”  
“xoxo”  
“Jules!”

Jules wanted to tell Kennedy everything, she was her best friend after all, but obviously she couldn’t do that, so she kept it to the important information.

“Sorry! Yeah I'm staying at Ophelia’s tonight”  
“Probably won’t be home for a couple of days”

Jules got a response back from Kennedy almost immediately.

“DAYS?!!”  
“YOU NEED TO TELL ME EVERYTHING”

It took all of Jules’s self-restraint not to tell all, but she still had to come up with a good reason for how everything went down and she was just too tired.

“You’ll wait. I’ll text you tomorrow. Love you xoxo”

Jules put her phone away and looked down at Ophelia, still fast asleep, curled up against Jules’s side. Jules reached over her to pull the blanket over them both. She managed to pull Ophelia in a little closer to her, both for her own desire to be nearer and to allow some blood to get to her hand. Jules put her face close to Ophelia’s hair where she could breathe her in and soon enough, she fell asleep.


End file.
